With a very good Freddie Ljungberg and the unbeatable Kasey Keller, Seattle confirmed tonight their excellent start of the season as an expansion team.
With 4 wins and 2 losses, the Sounders are above all expectations while the San Jose Earthquakes don't seem to be able to build on last year's promises and are slowly sinking in the bottom of the tables. The situation could quickly become desperate if they don't improve their performances soon.
The injuries of Jason Hernandez, Ryan Cochrane, Darren huckerby and now Ramiro Corrales (replaced by Simon Elliott at half time with an ankle injury) don't help but can not explain the difficulties of the Quakes so far this season.
Tonight's first goal came after the defense couldn't clear a ball from a corner kick which didn't look dangerous until two defenders tried to clear the same ball and ended up missing it. This was right before half time and, if San Jose came back from the locker room with better intentions, it is just after creating their best opportunity of the match (Ryan Johnson's header brilliantly saved by Keller) that they got caught out of position on a counter attack and conceded the second goal.
With Hernandez and Cochrane sidelined, Kelly Gray was associated to Nick Garcia in central defense. Gray, who knows he only owes his place to Hernandez' injury, surprisingly seemed to be the strong link of the defense every time he played in this position this season and this was the case again tonight. His calm offers a contrast with Garcia's apparent nervousness.
But the reasons for the Quakes' recent poor performances are probably elsewhere.
While he can count on Gray to replace Hernandez and/or Cochrane in the exact same role, Frank Yallop is still looking for a balanced system in the midfield and for offensive solutions able to threaten the opposition.
In spite of a slightly better ability to possess and hold the ball tonight than in the past weeks, most of the time, San Jose's forwards looked inoffensive.
The fact that the 2 central midfielders (Corrales and Convey tonight) are exclusively defensive players has already been mentioned here. Simon Elliott taking over for Corrales at half time didn't change anything. Convey has shown some interesting offensive skills the few times he played in other positions (left back or left midfield), but as a center midfielder he was transparent again tonight.
Arturo Alvarez, on the right wing has not tried to cross with his right foot once! It is sometimes a good idea to have a left footed player on the right wing to give him the possibility to run in the inside and take long shots, but you need to have someone who is able, at least, to try a cross with his other foot once in a while if you don't want to make the defender's job easy.
In front of them, Ryan Johnson and Pablo Campos are physically impressive and are doing an amazing job harassing their defenders and winning many balls in the air, but they both lack technical skills.
Having 2 players of this type in the starting line up may be one too many. Cam Weaver being another tall, strong but clumsy forward (he replaced Campos 13 minutes before the end tonight and lost almost all the balls he had to play), the only solution for a more technical touch up front may be Quincy Amarikwa, who immediately had an impact when he replaced Shea Salinas (65').
Despite his impressive ability to control the ball in any position and immediately turn towards the goal and create good situations, Yallop used him only as a joker so far, probably because of his lack of experience leading him to often make the wrong decision in the last pass. However, the situation may push the coach to give the Quakes' number 25 a chance to start a game earlier than expected.
With Huckerby injured, Shea Salinas started on the left wing. He couldn't make a difference and didn't always seem comfortable on this side of the field, but his energy is really adding something to his team. When Huckery is back, Yallop will have Salinas available to play on the right wing and probably able to be more dangerous than Alvarez in the same position. It doesn't necessarily mean leaving Alvarez on the bench. He played forward last year. It is definitely not his favorite position, but this is another option for the near future...
Again, making defensive mistakes can happen, and it always happens much more often when your team can't possess the ball and the game is always coming back in your own 30 yards. The Quakes need to find a solution to sometimes hold the ball and make their opponent run instead of always trying to send it immediately forward, otherwise, they will be the ones running after the ball and more mistakes and goals allowed will occur.
None of the options mentionned above will magically transform the team and even if Huckerby's return can probably help a lot, the main question today is: Does Frank Yallop have the solution in his current squad (and in this case, there is no reason to think he won't eventually find it) or will it require new signings?
